Toughie No 2142 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Bufo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another steady solve. My only problem was caused by my misreading one of the letters I had filled in the grid thus making the crossing answer impossible to solve
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a ‘Wet’ encompasses a person with left-wing tendencies (6)
MAOIST: ‘Wet’ round A = an adherent of a Chinese type of communism
4a Food item is hot and cold? Something dodgy about that (8)
FISHCAKE: IS, H (hot) and C (cold) inside something dodgy or counterfeit
10a Source of rubber unknown no longer? (5)
LATEX: A letter denoting an unknown quantity follows a word meaning ‘former’
11a Minister throttling one engaged in reversal of subsequent recovery (9)
RETRIEVAL: The abbreviation of a minister’s title round I (one) goes inside a reversal of ‘subsequent’
12a Imagine young child, daughter, lacking a little energy (7)
PRETEND: Remove E (energy) from a child aged 12 or under + D (daughter)
13a Place with drinks around — fails to walk steadily (7)
TOPPLES: The abbreviation for ‘place’ inside ‘drinks hard regularly’
14a Tendency to follow source about seasonal overhaul (6-8)
SPRING-CLEANING: A source + ‘about’ + a tendency
17a Strange precaution with mast? This isn’t a hurricane! (5,2,1,6)
STORM IN A TEACUP: An anagram (strange) of PRECAUTION MAST
21a Place, back in Irish islands, working with handcrafts? (7)
ARTISAN: A reversal of ‘to place’ inside the name of the group of islands in Galway Bay noted for knitwear
23a Gentle praise echoed after seizure reduced (7)
GRADUAL: ‘Seizure’ with the last letter removed + a reversal of ‘to praise’
24a Cut it fine when cooking pasta (9)
FETTUCINI: Am anagram (when cooking) of CUT IT FINE = pasta made in long ribbons
25a Young fellow consuming popular cheesecake? (3-2)
PIN-UP: A young fellow round ‘popular’ = a photograph hung on a wall that might be of an erotic or pornographic nature (cheesecake)
26a Fencer’s ultimate skill lying in sword responses (8)
REPARTEE: The last letter of FENCER + ‘skill’ inside a sword used in fencing
27a Clearly that is a measure of effort? (6)
WELLIE: ‘Clearly’ + the abbreviation for ‘that is’ = a possible measure of effort, as in ‘give it some ******’
Down
1d Roadside feature upended German car in fog (8)
MILEPOST: A reversal of a German car manufacturer inside a thin fog
2d How it is when a left-winger pays repeatedly? (2,3,4)
ON THE TROT: The final word is a left-winger (communist)
3d Wrong to accept kiss and clothing item like some adolescents (7)
SIXTEEN: A wrong goes round X (kiss) and a slip-on shirt
5d Very keen on the pub profits as well (4,3,7)
INTO THE BARGAIN: ‘Very keen on’ + THE + a pub + profits
6d Sixties musical with very good note (it’s rather sharp) (7)
HAIRPIN: A rock musical first performed in 1967 + ‘very good’ + N (note)
7d Article with zero volume included as part of Verdi chorus (5)
ANVIL: The indefinite article + ‘zero’ round V (volume) = the name of a chorus from Verdi’s Il trovatore
8d Holland is besieged by alien — join the army (6)
ENLIST: The IVR for the Netherlands and IS inside an alien
9d Way of manufacturing quote from stage performance? (10,4)
PRODUCTION LINE: A stage performance + a small part of the script
15d Study picked up change almost entirely occurring at night (9)
NOCTURNAL: A reversal of ‘to study’ + ‘to change’ + ‘entirely’ with the last letter removed
16d Example of orderliness mostly brought to bear around recording (5,3)
APPLE PIE: ‘Brought to bear’ with the last letter removed round a 45-rpm recording
18d Salvage worker errs badly about encouragement to action (7)
RESCUER: An anagram (badly) of ERRS = something which serves as a signal to begin
19d Chop up tree, but not the second, for instance (7)
EXAMPLE: A reversal of ‘to chop’ + a type of tree with its second latter removed
20d Foreman providing slip with resistance (6)
GAFFER: A slip or blunder + R (resistance)
22d Sum that would result in no change? (3,2)
TOT UP: The first word is a palindrome and so remains unchanged when the second word is applied to it
As a Toughie this was right up my street – a lot of fun and a good steady challenge where, given a bit of persistence, everything eventually yielded. And a second palindrome of the day to boot.
I only needed Google to check the Verdi chorus in 7d. Surely you can’t have the clothing item in 3d without it being followed by “shirt”.
As a lover of brevity, doesn’t 12a work better without “lacking a little energy”? I’m not sure that many 10 or 11 year olds would relish being called a young child.
Many thanks to Kcit and to Bufo.
Re 12a- that would not be a recognised expression?
I’m confined to the house with manflu, so this kept me amused but It was over quite soon.The chorus in 7d is a popular choice on Classic FM. Thank you Kcit and Bufo.
Very much enjoyed this one despite having, yet again, forgotten the abb for ‘place’.
Have to admit to putting ‘site’ as the second word of 9d, thinking in terms of a homophone (theatre performance) of ‘cite’ which seemed to fit rather better with ‘quote’.
Top three for me were 17a plus 2&5d.
Thanks to Kcit for the fun and to Bufo for the blog.
I think the abbreviation for place is associated with its use in street names.
That makes perfect sense. Thanks BD – I might even remember it henceforth!
A search through Chambers reveals the following, all used in street names:
Av.:: …Avenue
Clo.:: .Close
Cres.::Crescent
Ct:: …Court
Dr.:: …Drive
Dv.:: …Drive
Est.:: …Estate.
Gdns:: Gardens.
Gro.:: .Grove
Hse:: House
La.:: ..Lane
Pk:: …Park
Pl:: …Place
Rd.:: .Road
Sq:: …Square
St.:: …Street
Ter.:: ..Terrace
Terr.:: .Terrace
Vw:: …View
Wy:: …Way
Crikey – I hope none of our setters have seen some of those!
I found this another very enjoyable puzzle. 7d was my first in (what a refreshing change from rappers!), and with it some helpful checkers to get me established. 27a was (by a long shot) my last in – I was not aware of the definition, and in this case the checkers did not help me as much. No stand out favourite for me – just the pleasure and satisfaction of completing it (eventually!). Many thanks to Kcit and Bufo.
Agree with above comments -a steady, enjoyable solve. think you do need all of the clue for 12a, otherwise why leave an “e” out of preteen? Liked 17a, mainly for the implausibility of the anagram!.Thanks to all
Really good workout.
Had to tease out quite a few answers but needed the blog to understand 7d and 27a which were guessed from the wordplay.
Thanks to Kcit and Bufo for the review.
Well that was strange!
Typed a response to your comment and my first post just appeared.
Anyway. I was saying that RD probably means that Pre-Ten would have been sufficient as past that age you’re not considered a young child anymore.
That’s exactly what I meant, Jean-Luc.
Really good workout.
Had to tease out quite a few answers but needed the blog to understand 7d and 27a which were guessed from the wordplay.
Thanks to Kcit and Bufo for the review.
We spent some time trying to justify the answer for 27a and eventually closely read the BRB entry until we came to this usage that was new to us. In NZ the footwear involved are gumboots, the use of the name used here immediately labels the speaker as a Pom. (This setter does actually live in NZ, for those who did not know.)
A good fun puzzle that we thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks Kcit and Bufo.
A pleasant puzzle – thanks to Kcit and Bufo. I had to verify that the answer I’d come up with for 7d was, however unlikely it seemed, related to Verdi.
My favourite clue was 2d.
Fun to do, but more 2* difficulty for me. Favourite was 27a, but I also liked 2d.
Thanks to Kcit and Bufo.
Lovely puzzle and review. Thank you for 7d.